Wild Within Teen Adventures
Wild Within is a group of teens who adventure as a tribe one weekend a month to explore our connections to the wildness found in nature, community and self.
What do the Jedi and Jason Bourne have in common?
A keen sense of awareness and the ability to use their intuition and training to move in the flow. This is what your first weekend is all about!
How do you actually make fire by rubbing two sticks together (when one isn't a match)? How can you use a simple stick to practice an ancient primitive hunting art? Your second weekend awaits...
Ever followed an animal's tracks over a long expanse of desert?
Coyote and other animals are moving around the landscape 24/7, and yet we rarely get a glimpse of them. In the third weekend you practice ways of movement and awareness to change that...
How would you survive if you were stuck overnight in the woods without gear?
Survival is about what you know, and how able you are to maintain a clear mind. During the fourth weekend, we will practice both of these, while learning invaluable skills (and having fun!)
What's really out there in the mountains and snow?
Many of us have visited the mountains, or spent time in snow - but how many of us have gone off the beaten path on snowshoes and really explored out there? Our fifth weekend does this and more...
How do you stay found without a compass?
The art of "wandering" is about freedom and responsibility in any journey. Maps are useful, and too often we confuse them for the actual territory. Our sixth weekend gives us experiences in getting lost and found again...
What does it mean to be "invisible" in the woods?
Animals play a 24/7 life-or-death game of stealth and evasion, and are to most people "invisible". Our seventh weekend explores how we can move inside this 'cloak of invisibility' and allows us to see animals that were previously hidden to us.
It's one thing to learn skills, but how do you know if you could actually survive?
Our eigth and final weekend is a challenge in survival. We'll be using everything we've learned to put ourselves to a healthy test of our abilities.
Will you join us this year at Wild Within?
2011-12 Calendar and Enrollment
Wild Within is a course for ages 14-18. Class size is limited to 14 students with two instructors (see instructor biographies) and additional volunteers in order to ensure individual attention and mentoring. Wild Within meets for a fall session and a spring session as follows:
Fall 2011
- Jedi Awareness & Fire Making - Duvall - Sept. 23-25
- Hunter Gatherer - Eastside Canyons - Oct 21-23
- Survival Shelter Challenge - Duvall - Nov 18-20
- Primitive Living Skills - Duvall - Dec 9-11
Spring 2012
- Winter Tracking and Trailing- Cascade Mountains - Feb 3-5
- Coyote Wandering - Eastside Desert - Mar 2-4
- Art of Invisibility Bird Language Intensive - Duvall - Apr 6-8
- Way of the Scout - Duvall - May 4-6
NOTE: Weekends typically start Friday at 7:00pm, and go through Sunday at 3:00pm. Students bring field lunches for Sat. and Sun. and all other meals are included.
Register for Wild Within
| Register Now | Ages 14-18 $675 Transportation and most materials included. Fall 2011 Session starts Sept 23-Dec 11, 2012 Duvall and other Eastside Locations |
| Register Now | Ages 14-18 $675 Transportation and most materials included. Spring 2012 Session Feb 3-May 6, 2012 Duvall and other Eastside Locations |
Tuition & Scholarships
Fall or Spring Session: Tuition is $675
Non-refundable Deposit: $200, due upon registration. Remainder due Sept 1 (Fall Session), or Feb. 1 (Spring Session)
Scholarships:
If you require tuition assistance, we invite you to download a Scholarship
Application in PDF format, complete it and mail it in.
The non-refundable registration deposit is required to hold the place of all registrants, regardless of scholarship status. If, within two weeks of scholarship notification, scholarship applicants decide not to commit to the course, we will refund your deposit in full. (This is the only situation where the deposit is refundable.)
Our Educational Philosophy
At the core of our approach to educating young people is our concept of "Passion-based learning." This is the idea that every one of us has special gifts to bring to the world, things that spark our passions in life.
Our school's fundamental goal is to awaken this spirit in our students, and to help them identify and pursue their gifts. We believe that the most effective learning happens when young people are pursuing what they love, and so truly desire to learn.
Equally important is our philosophy that the most effective learning happens when students figure things out "on their own."
In their efforts to do this, they are individually guided by mentors who strive to create experiences and opportunities for students to discover their own answers.
We call this method Coyote
Mentoring, a technique that encourages creative thinking rather
than providing answers, and results in much deeper learning. It also
stimulates the growth of problem-solving skills, and stretches the students
into greater self-sufficiency in their living and learning
Instructors
Mike Prince serves as a core instructor of Anake Outdoor School and Lead Instructor of Community School. Mike also coordinates the Wild Within Teen weekend program. Mike previously served as Land Manager for Linne Doran for 5 years and is a dedicated keeper of the center fire. As a Delaware native, Mike spent many years exploring the wilds of the Chesapeake Bay region and Mid-Atlantic coast. He earned a BA from University of Rochester in upstate NY. After teaching High School, directing a Boy Scout Camp, and directing at a YMCA Camp & Conference Center, Mike followed coyote west to join the Anake Outdoor School in 2004. Mike is passionate about the art of mentoring and dreams of creating a Wilderness Awareness Academy for teens that would blend nature and modern academic skills. Mike loves tracking, swimming, sailing, real pizza, scouting, Inipi, football, live music, stock investing and ice cream.
Richie Booth is an Instructor for the Thursday Coyotes (ages 10-12) and Friday Roots and Wings (ages 4-6) programs. He was born and raised in Yelm, WA. Spending his summers camping on the Deschutes River in Weyerhauser with his dad he developed a deep love for the forest. Working with youth at Camp Cispus during high school and college he realized his passion for working with kids. He has dedicated his life to reconnecting with nature through the practice of primitive skills, and helping both kids and adults to find their passions by sharing his with them.
Guest Instructors
Dan Corcoran is the Adult Programs Director and Coordinator of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and an instructor with our Youth Programs and Adult Programs as well. After receiving his B.S. in Biology from Indiana University in June of 2000, Dan moved to the Pacific Northwest to pursue his love of nature with Wilderness Awareness School. He graduated from the Anake Outdoor School in 2003. As a Kamana graduate, he aspires to inspire more people to finish the program. He continues to push his edges with attempts to touch a deer, flintknap a clovis point, and hear a cougar bird-alarm sequence. Dan is also a Wilderness First Responder.
Laura Gunion is the Director of Mentoring and Instructor at Anake Outdoor School, and Anake Leadership Program. She began her work for Wilderness Awareness School after attending our Anake Outdoor School 2001-02. After 16 years and many summers of working with children and teens, Laura is transitioning her focus to work with adults. She is currently enrolled in a training program at Animas Valley Institute that supports her explorations at WAS of how time in the natural world helps evoke our fullest potential. In her spare time, Laura enjoys sitting by the creek, sharing delicious meals with friends, wandering forest trails, contemplating untapped human potential, telemark skiing, and exploring the indefinite opportunities of simplifying and slowing down
Nate Summers coordinates the Anake Leadership Program, and serves as a staff specialist for the Anake Outdoor School. He has been mentoring adults and youth in the outdoors since 1995. Nate's journey with ancient living skills started as a teenager at the Ancient Lifeways Institute in Southern Illinois. This exposure to stone age living at a young age sparked a life-long interest in anthropology, hunter-gatherer lifestyles, and indigenous cultures. In the past, Nate has served as both Youth Programs Director and Adult Programs Director for Wilderness Awareness School, and has worked with such organizations as King County Parks and Recreation, Seattle Parks Department, and Outdoor Connections/WildLore.
Nate is an internal martial arts enthusiast, a practitioner of Chinese Medicine, and a the proud father of his pre-school age daughter Katie. He holds a Master's of Acupuncture degree from the Northwest Institute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, as well as Bachelors of Arts Degrees in both Anthropology and Asian Studies from the University of Illinois. He has also served as faculty for the Desert Insitute of Healing Arts, the Asian Institute of Medical Studies, Earthwalk School of Energy Healing, and as adjunct faculty for Prescott College. Nate likes to fish, practice internal martial arts, go on Daddy-adventures with his daughter, and gather wild foods to supplement his diet.
